About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Four Bedouin houses destroyed in the Negev

Israeli forces demolished four houses belonging to Bedouin families in southern Israel on Monday, locals said.
Forces demolished the homes of Atef Al-Athamen, who plans to marry soon, and Nayed Abu Ghuneima, a father of six, as well as two others in Khashim Zena village in the Negev region, local residents said.
A statement from the Arab League follow-up committee said Israeli authorities claimed the homes did not have licenses, despite that the Bedouin villages in the area pre-date the establishment of the State of Israel. An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Israeli forces in the past weeks demolished no less than five consecutive times the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib (picture) in the Negev, each time after the inhabitants had rebuilt (some of) it with the help of Israeli peace activitsts, also claiming that it has been built without a permit.